


Visitor

by did_you_reboot



Category: Thunderbolt Fantasy 東離劍遊紀 (TV)
Genre: pining but he doesn't know it lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21984226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/did_you_reboot/pseuds/did_you_reboot
Summary: When all the swords are put away and all the villains vanquished, Shāng Bù Huàn finds comfort in a boat.And he waits.
Relationships: Rin Setsu A | Lǐn Xuě Yā & Sho Fu Kan | Shāng Bù Huàn, Rin Setsu A | Lǐn Xuě Yā/Sho Fu Kan | Shāng Bù Huàn
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	Visitor

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZGuavi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZGuavi/gifts).



The boat rocked gently in the water.

There were no villains seeking his blood, no swords left to protect...His body, weary and broken, finally he knew peace. But there was a restlessness deep within.

The sway of the boat kept it down.

He’d come into life on a boat by chance. He had taken up his wanderings once more when at last the Index was sealed forever, but his body and soul were weary and ached for rest. What should have been a brief encounter with a kindly fisherman became a pleasant night sharing a meal and drink on the fisherman’s boat. And as he lay down to sleep in the space graciously offered by the man, he felt the sway of the boat. The gentle rocking.

That night in the fisherman’s boat, he felt comfort for the first time in years.

He hadn’t recognized the feeling for what it was then. It wasn’t until his next visit to the river when he took a small boat out on a whim to watch the sun set that the feeling fell into place.

And so he found himself a boat. Put aside his edgeless blade for a fishing pole. Spent the days rowing and swaying instead of walking to the next place — there was always a next place.

But here he could rest.

Some days, the restlessness was almost overwhelming—some days, he found himself looking over his shoulder for _something_. He was never able to put a finger on what, and so he left it at that. It was no use worrying about it, and so he busied himself with things that he knew: these days, that meant fish, and boats.

Mu Tian Ming found him one day. But she had not come to call on him for help; she had just been passing through and caught word of his new boat lifestyle, and with a similar lack of villains on her tail, the pair of them spent a comfortable few days together, reminiscing about past trials and tribulations and catching up on what the other had been up to since the completion of their quest. It was nice to listen to her music again there on the river, but it tweaked at something within him—something he didn’t know how to place other than a sort of ache for familiarity, not quite loneliness but very close to it.

But he didn’t understand the feeling, so he set it aside.

The night before she left, they were sharing wine out under a clear, moonlit sky.

“What of your persistent friend?” she asked with a small smile. Shang shrugged the question off.

“Don’t know. I haven’t seen him in a while—probably causing trouble somewhere. I’m just glad I’m not involved.”

Tian Ming raised her eyebrows ever so slightly, but said nothing as she sipped her wine.

She took her leave the next day, assuring him that she would visit again if she was nearby. He thanked her, and found himself feeling somehow even more restless. There was a brief moment where he thought that perhaps the comfort of the boat was not right for him, but he wasn’t sure if it was the boat or something else.

Before he turned to lie down for a nap, he glanced over his shoulder. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he did it all the same.

He found himself setting his small table for two in the wake of Tian Ming’s visit. At first, he had merely forgotten to put the extra placement away. But the more he looked at it, the more he thought it should stay. For more visitors, he thought.

He didn’t know what visitors he wanted, or who they might be. But the thought somehow eased the restlessness.

More and more, he found himself looking out into the forest lining the river. Fishing was more often than not quite slow and uneventful, and so he filled the time by examining the trees and the animals that surrounded his floating home. He was just looking, he thought, but some part of him was looking for _something_ , and even the bright warbling of birds seemed to draw his attention.

He brushed it off as paranoia left over from his time running from villains seeking to kill him.

When the restlessness became near-unbearable, he took to meditation. The river was a good place for it—with his breaths in time with the gentle swaying of the boat, internally he felt calmed and centered. The meditation helped ease the feeling, and he wasn’t sure if it was a restlessness left in the absence of conflict. But there were no villains here—only the boat and the river and himself, broken yet still strong—and though the restlessness was held at bay, it gave way to the feeling of _waiting_ and _expectation_ just beneath it.

One evening as he was sipping wine in the light of the sunset, he thought back to Tian Ming’s visit. An eager—or perhaps confused and desperate—bird was singing in the waning light, and its song reminded him of Tian Ming’s throwaway question.

What indeed of his persistent friend?

The waiting and expectation finally fell into place; he’d spent so long being drawn into the schemes of his _persistent friend_ that he now realized at least some of his restlessness had been in wait of whatever scheme might be unexpectedly sprung upon him. But here on the river without another soul in sight, he tried to push the feeling away. He’d been left in peace for nearly a year now, and surely his persistent friend had finally found some other poor soul to torture. That was fine by him—he was too tired to deal with whatever madness that man would bring.

Still, he watched, and he waited.

The boat was calming and comforting, but it wouldn’t do to let his guard down too far lest the calm and comfort be destroyed.

At least, that’s what he told himself because he had no other explanation for the feeling.

Sometimes the second placement on his table was knocked out of place when the river was unruly. He always put it back for reasons unknown—in case Tian Ming came to visit again, he eventually reasoned.

One day as the afternoon sun slowly approached the horizon, he heard the song of a confused—or overeager—bird as he prepared his dinner. He paused a moment to listen; the bird drew his interest but he wasn’t quite sure why, so he shrugged it off and put his grilled fish on a plate, before turning around to set the plate down on the table.

And through the opening of the hut, a familiar silhouette crouched in the golden light.

“Quite an interesting home you have here, Sir Shang.”

He wanted to feel annoyed at the sight of him—he wanted to feel dread about what scheme was in store.

But instead the restlessness within him eased. And so too, the paranoia.

The watchfulness.

The wait.

All fell away, leaving him with the comfort of the boat.

With the rocking of the river.

With the visitor he hadn't known he was waiting for.

With a small grunt, he set the fish down and gestured offhandedly at the second placement on the table before turning to reach for the wine.

“Took you long enough, Lin Xue Ya.”

**Author's Note:**

> **tl;dr: turns out he missed that asshole a whole bunch**
> 
> wrote this for ZGuavi <3 😘
> 
> also diacritical marks D: pls forgive my laziness


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